


Pip-Pip-Cheer Dirk up.

by dragonism



Series: Brotzly Ficlets [7]
Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other, too - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 02:36:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12546916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonism/pseuds/dragonism
Summary: Todd has noticed Dirk’s been a little- or maybe a lot- down recently. He’s trying out a new and terrible way of making him feel better.





	Pip-Pip-Cheer Dirk up.

Something had been off about Dirk since he got back from Blackwing.

Sure, Todd knew he wouldn’t be the same- the man had been through so much in the last two months that it really wasn’t possible for him to ever come back the same. That rang true for all of them.

But Dirk. Something about Dirk was different in a way Todd couldn’t have expected.

The usually loud and bubbly man was dead silent most days. Too quiet for comfort and only speaking when spoken to or when he knew he had to. He rarely rambled anymore, and when he did his sentences were sharp; snappy; and laced with a hint of venom.

At the moment, Dirk lay on the bed of their Motel room. His legs curled close to him as he faced the wall. Todd was sat on the other single, flicking through TV channels- but his gaze flickered more to Dirk than the screen. He was worried, admittedly very worried.

A sinking feeling had been at the pit of his stomach since he’d first noticed Dirk’s behaviour and it only grew, like a stain you desperately tried to scrub off but the wetness of the rag you were using only seemed to help the colourful pain get worse.

He was running out of ideas. Running out of ways to distract Dirk, even to talk to him. Right now he was well aware that the man wasn’t asleep, but they both pretended like Todd didn’t know and that Dirk didn’t know that Todd knew.

Until he couldn’t help it any longer. Todd turned off the TV and just as he did the light beside his bed turned out too. Perfect.

Wait... maybe that was perfect.

“Ha, would you look at that.” He breathed a laugh and glanced at Dirk, gaze firm on the other man’s back, “Hey Dirk... _everything is connected_ , right?”

He’d said ‘everything is connected’ in the best British accent he could muster. Which happened to be mildly terrible but none the less he saw Dirk shift and that was enough to make him go on.

“Maybe, the universe knew that turning off the TV meant we were going to sleep, so it turned off the lights for us.”

This time Dirk rolled over, lay on his back staring at the ceiling as he spoke, “Or maybe, this Motel just has terrible wiring?” He lolled his head to the side, looking at Todd whilst his hands rested on his stomach, “As _terrible_ as that accent in fact.”

Todd frowned for a moment at Dirk’s response, before he caught a glimpse of something. As Dirk insulted his accent the corners of the detective’s mouth pulled. Just slightly. Unnoticeably for anybody who didn’t know him well enough to know when he was holding back a smile. So he tried again, an even more terrible attempt but purposefully so as he sat cross legged looking over to Dirk’s bed.

“I’m offended, I thought my accent was bloody brilliant.”

“Hey! Bloody isn’t an inherently British word!”

“Oh but it _is_.”

“Is not.” Dirk was sitting up now, mirroring Todd’s position as he sat crossed legged in the moonlit room, watching his friend and still desperately holding back the smile that teased his lips.

“Fine! Then, uh, how about-“ He hummed, trying to think, trying to pull out a laugh; a smile; anything but a frown from his friend, “Pip-pip-cheerio... and _stuff_....”

“Pip-pip-cheerio.... really?” There it was. Subtle, but perfect, and real unlike the other smiles Dirk had plastered on throughout that day. “ _That’s_ the best you could come up with?”

“Hey! Don’t judge me, my only other option was to talk about the Queen and how people shouldn’t judge her, and that’s a rubbish option.” Todd rolled his eyes, giving his own smile just big enough to match Dirk’s.

“Nothing about the Queen is rubbish Todd, she’s a very regal lady.”

“You just proved my point.”

“Did not.”

“Did!” Todd watched as Dirk’s smile grew and matched it. Laughing a little to himself and wondering if his silly plan really had worked. “All British people have this thing about defending the queen and you can’t deny it.”

“We do not...” Todd gave Dirk a look, a raised eyebrow and a smirk, and Dirk chuckled, “Okay okay, we do. But still!”

“What’s so good about her? Doesn’t she just sit around like...” He coughed, over-dramatically to clear his throat, and then sat up straight- pretending he was sipping a cup of tea with his pinky finger in the air, “Oh Charles, this tea is delightful! Won’t you go and feed the Corgis and we can go for an evening stroll through the courtyard?”

“Todd!” Todd’s gaze snapped back to Dirk and he saw the man sat, in a fit of laughter, shaking his head, “That’s so inaccurate.”

“Oh yeah, you do it then!”

“Alright...” This time is was Dirk that coughed, a few times to try and control his laughter, before poising himself with one hand in the air, “Good people of Britain, I rarely speak and I’m not even sure who most of you are but please, do worship me for I am on all of your coins.”

“What kind of wave is that?” Todd was laughing himself, watching Dirk’s ridiculous act and shaking his head.

“The Queens wave!”

“Really? Holy hell that’s strange. And she’s really on all of your coins?”

“And notes!”

They shared a look, quiet for a moment, a knowing smile between them.

“She kinda insinuates herself into your life whether you like her or not then.” Todd pondered, still smiling, but at this Dirk’s smile faltered a little.

“Kinda like what I did with you huh, maybe that’s what us Brits are best at.”

“Hey, I’d prefer you over the queen any day.” He joked a little, but then moved towards the side of the bed, leaning across to talk to Dirk more seriously, “Dirk, I’m thankful for you being here. At this point I couldn’t actually imagine a life without you. Infact just considering that in words is... _strange_.”

“You’re just saying that. Nobody actually cares about me, I just force them to.”

“Who the hell told you that?” Todd’s brows creased and he reacted out tentatively to touch the back of Dirk’s hand with his fingers, “Nobody forced Farah and I to keep looking for you. Nobody forced me to go back to that Hospital. Nobody is forcing me to still be here right now.”

“Well then.. you’ve had so many chances to leave. Get away from all of... this. Why didn’t you?” Dirk looked up from where he watched his hands, and looked at Todd with a pleading expression.

“I thought that was obvious.”

Dirk replied with a mere shake of his head, his lip trembling a little as though he might cry.

“ _You_. Dirk. You’re the reason I haven’t left.” Todd spoke softly, gently, comforting in his words and speaking nothing but raw truth. “And not because you’re forcing me to do anything. Because you’re my friend, because I care about you. And Farah, and she cares about you too.”

“Stop. Stop it you’re just saying that. They... they told me you don’t actually care.”

“Blackwing?”

Dirk winced, drew his hand back, nodded. “They told me you guys left. That you weren’t coming back. You got away and... you didn’t _care_ about what happened to me.”

“Bullshit.” Todd shook his head, eyes desperate as he spoke quickly, “That’s bullshit! Dirk come on, they’ve lied to you more than once. That’s just another lie. Look at me, please, just look at me for like two seconds.”

After a moment, Dirk sniffled, raised his gaze and looked over at Todd. Turning a little again.

“They lied to you, okay?” He waited for Dirk to nod with him, “Farah and I, we do care. We did care and we always will care. Yeah, we were running from Blackwing but that didn’t mean we weren’t still looking for you. I mean for me that was like... the main objective.”

Dirk didn’t say anything, Todd didn’t expect him to.

“We’re your friends. I’m your friend. Trust me.”

“I trust you.”

“Then you believe me?”

Dirk sighed, nodding but furrowing his brows, “Its gonna be ha-“

“Hard? I get that. Really I do. But I’m here to help okay? I know I may not have been the best person in the past but I really am gonna help you as best I can. But to do that I need you to open up a little more.”

“I will... in time.”

“Okay. Okay. Yeah, that’s good. That’s better.”

Todd smiled at Dirk, reaching out again but this time taking the man’s hand in his. Happy to feel that Dirk squeezed back- tight. A moment passed and Dirk seemed to gather himself more, and then he broke the silence, looking up with a weak smile and mischief behind his tear rimmed eyes, “Your accent was still terrible.”

Todd’s jaw dropped a little and he feigned offence, “Hey! We were having a moment there!”

“Well, you know what they say, pip-pip-cheerio... and stuff.” Dirk’s smile grew, and the pair of them shared the same bubble of happiness they once had. Smaller now, but theirs.

“You said nobody said that!”

“No, I asked if that was the best you could come up with.”

“Oh, this is on. This is... war.”

“War?”

“Yeah. Come on. If I’m so bad at British accents I wanna hear you try an American one.”

“Deal.”


End file.
